Romerica Exchange
by MoyaKite
Summary: Three prompts and three fills for the Romerica Exchange. All three are compatible with Grow Old Together. Warnings for non-graphic childbirth, unruly child OCs, and some sadness at the end. Also fluff. - - - Chapters go in chronological rather than prompt order. - - - Ch. 1: Hospital. Ch. 2: Family Portrait. Ch. 3: After You.
1. Hospital

**Prompt 2: (one half of the ship) is in the hospital for some reason. What will (the other half) do? ((established relationship))**

* * *

Amelia squeezed Lovina's hand.

"It's going to be okay, sweetie," Amelia said, even though she was worried, herself―twins weren't exactly a breeze when giving birth, she was sure. Lovina's face was scrunched tight. "Remember those classes? Breathe―"

"I'm f**king breathing, okay?" Lovina snapped. Amelia opened her mouth again, and Lovina held up her free hand to stop her. "No. I'm not taking any f**king drugs. I don't want them messing up my babies."

"They won't..." Amelia began, but surrendered when Lovina gave her a stern look. "Gotcha. No drugs."

Lovina had insisted on a midwife, but Amelia had found a hospital that allowed midwives―just in case, God forbid, something went wrong. They'd relied on science to get pregnant in the first place; Amelia didn't see the harm in relying on it to bring the babies into the world.

"Felicia's already setting up the house," Amelia said, changing tacks. Lovina groaned. Felicia had insisted on visiting for the first month to take care of all of the chores and make sure mother and babies alike were cared for properly while Amelia went back to work.

"She'd better have dinner waiting," Lovina said. She hadn't been allowed to eat since the contractions had started.

"I'm sure she'll have dinner _and_ a glass of wine waiting," Amelia said. "The good wine. I bought some special."

Lovina almost grinned, but another contraction stopped her up short.

The next hour was a blur. Amelia pulled out her camera and didn't know where to point it. The midwives called it a quick and easy birth, but Lovina begged to differ. Finally, the midwives held out her first baby girl and asked her to cut the cord.

Amelia looked down at her little, pink face and swayed. The world seemed to go gray at the edges.

"Ohh, my God," Amelia gasped.

That was the last thing she remembered; Lovina would spend the next three years alternately laughing about how she passed out at the sight of the placenta and grousing about how she'd been left to deliver Allegra on her own.


	2. Family Portrait

**Prompt 1: A family portrait. They can be genderbent or not, just the two, or kids, or an extended family type thing. (if a fic, maybe go through all the hassle to get it?)**

* * *

"So help me, Allegra, if you keep diving under those props―"

"I'm looking for a light saber, Mama!" Allegra pouted. "Noemi already got one. Even Bridget has a nifty outfit." She pointed at Bridget's ridiculous Jedi costume, and Lovina covered her face, counting to ten. "It's a theme! Good photos have to have themes, right, Kiku?"

"My apologies, Lovina," Kiku said, scuffing his feet. "I do have another light saber, if you'll give me just a moment..."

"Yes!" Allegra shouted, pumping her fist in the air.

"Mom!" Jacob said, pulling on Maddie's arm. "I want one, too!"

"Oh, no," Maddie said firmly, shaking her head. "You pick another theme. Kiku doesn't have unlimited light sabers." Lovina surveyed the four siblings, so recently adopted―she was still struggling to keep track of their names. Allegra and Noemi staged a mock battle dangerously close to the studio lights that Kiku had set up; at twelve, they were reckless and confident in their own invulnerability. It made Lovina's hair stand on end.

So of course Amelia had to leap in with a double-bladed light saber to spar with the pair of them simultaneously.

"Bridget," Lovina said, grabbing the eight-year-old by the shoulder. Bridget looked up at her, fingering the hem of her jedi costume. "They are getting grounded the moment we get home. I'm going to go deal with Mom right now, so go ask Kiku where he wants you in the picture, okay?"

"Yes, Mama," Bridget sighed, sulking off toward Kiku. Lovina rounded on Amelia, only to find Felicia directly in her path, clinging to Monika's arm.

"I see now why Felicia would prefer to be an aunt," Monika said, her voice very serious. Lovina bristled, but Felicia spoke before she could.

"They're sooo cute," Felicia cooed. "Oops!" The lighting shifted alarmingly, but Amelia managed to catch it before it hit the ground. She laughed sheepishly, and Lovina leveled her with a pointed stare.

"Sorry, Kiku," Amelia said. "No harm, no foul, right?"

"Of course, Amelia," he replied. They'd been good friends at MIT, and he'd been one of the scientists who'd helped them have biological children―but photography was his hobby and passion. Amelia herded the girls over to Lovina, who stooped down with a comb in hand.

"Mama!" the twins pleaded, but Lovina was merciless; she dragged the comb through the girls' hair, attempting to flatten the stray cowlick they'd inherited from both mothers.

"You are both going to be grounded for two weeks if you can't sit still for just one photograph," Lovina said firmly. The girls groaned, and she tilted their chins up to look them in the eye. "No ifs, ands, or buts. Kiku is doing us a big favor."

"Yes, Mama," Noemi sighed. Allegra looked a little more put out, and Lovina relented, withdrawing the comb.

"If you behave, we'll still have time to catch the new superhero movie," Lovina said. "Go get your cousins together."

Lovina sagged against Amelia as the girls cheered and ran off to gather their cousins, aunts, and little sister. Amelia squeezed Lovina's shoulder affectionately.

"It's okay, babe," Amelia said, sneaking a kiss when no one was looking. "Kiku's going to get some fantastic pictures."

"Seven kids and six adults," Lovina sighed. The Beilschmidt-Williams family had settled on a medieval theme and were talking fervently about how high they were going to roll on their Charisma checks. "Are we even going to fit in a single photo? God."

"If you could step inside the taped lines?" Kiku asked, adjusting the lens on his camera. Lovina and Amelia stepped forward, and Kiku arranged them into a variety of poses. Just before he asked them to smile, Amelia whispered in her ear.

"I'll make you a jedi cat for putting up with this."

And, despite her frustration, Lovina had to laugh.


	3. After You

**Prompt 3: Human! AU. The couple is old, they have greatgrandchildren. (one of them) dies. The other still goes through all their old routines. What's life like for the one that's living? **

**Bonus: is the dead one a ghost? Can they see their partner? Does the ghost have any way to communicate with the living? **

**Extra bonus: what happens when they finally meet again in the afterlife? Was the first dead one the one to bring them to the afterlife?**

* * *

Amelia settled into her half of the sofa. It sagged inward, toward Lovina's half, but there was no one to bolster her, no one to rest her weary head against. The house felt cold and altogether too empty for Amelia's tastes. Allegra had brought the only son of hers who hadn't yet started a family of his own; Noemi had brought her husband. Bridget had brought herself and three of her six children. Fifteen grandchildren in all; twelve of them had married, for a total of twenty-six great-grandchildren so far.

And yet the house felt empty.

"You always were stubborn," Amelia sighed. Lovina had made it just past her ninety-fourth birthday. It was still early summer, and Amelia needed a blanket across her lap most days. _I want to go first,_ Lovina had said. She'd said she was selfish and stubborn and happy to go first; as always, it was up to Amelia to oblige her, even thirty years after she'd leveled the demand. Some of their great-grandchildren would be marrying and raising children of their own, soon. At least Lovina had gotten to meet all of their little ones and seen them grow.

Routines kept Amelia going. She insisted on washing and chopping the vegetables, even though she didn't have Lovina their to season and stir them to perfection. She carried the laundry down, even though she couldn't make heads or tails of how to fold them once they were clean. She had no litter boxes or diapers to clean.

At the end of the day, Amelia settled into their porch swing to talk to Lovina.

"I'm not rushing after you," Amelia promised. "You know me. I'll take my own, sweet time."

_Liar,_ she imagined Lovina saying. _You're too reckless by half. It's a miracle you've made it this far._

"I don't break my promises," Amelia said. "I'll take my time."

She took up gardening and knitting and crochet to fill idle hands that had always been occupied with Lovina's. Ruffling Lovina's hair. Squeezing Lovina's shoulder. Rubbing circles into Lovina's palm. Her ring was permanently embedded in her finger, immovable. A permanent reminder of the loved one she'd lost.

After her hobbies and evening conversations had made her grow weary, Amelia staggered up the steps to the bed she'd shared with Lovina for almost seventy years. She couldn't throw out the mattress, even as it started to sag; Lovina's impression beside her was the only thing that got her back to sleep, some nights.

"I promised," Amelia said. And she had.

She doted on her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren as the years went by. Always unnaturally healthy, Amelia outlived both Felicia and Monika before, one night, she opened her eyes and saw Lovina lying in her spot by the bed.

"My time, is it?" Amelia yawned, wrapping an unnaturally light and agile arm around Lovina's waist. Lovina's face was young and unblemished, just as it had been when they'd married more eighty years before. "I always did love your laugh lines best," Amelia said softly.

"You really hung on a long time," Lovina murmured, curling against her.

"Aren't you glad we sorted out afterlives all those years ago?"

"There's a restaurant I want to show you," Lovina said. She seemed to be near tears, but Amelia couldn't blame her; they'd been apart so long. "And a park."

"Did we actually get that amusement park and water slide I wanted?" Amelia asked. Lovina nodded against her chest. "I guess we'd better be young for the day, then."

Lovina just held onto her fiercely, clinging to her back.

"Shh, shh," Amelia said, rubbing the knots from Lovina's shoulders as she'd always done. "It's okay. I'm home."


End file.
